


How Did We End Up Here

by MrFredgar



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: Asthma attack, Micah is a piece of shit, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 09:51:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16931022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrFredgar/pseuds/MrFredgar
Summary: Micah's continued advances on Dutch have Arthur and Dutch worried about Hosea's safety, and for good reason





	How Did We End Up Here

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by Miso (go check out her work yo). Many thanks for allowing me to continue on your creation!

After Micah stormed off in a huff, Arthur turned towards Dutch.

 

“Ya know, Micah is pretty incessant.”

 

“Hmm” Was all Dutch replied without looking up from his book.

 

Arthur continued, “If you’d like I can keep an eye on Hosea. What with his cough I don’t think he’d be able to fend off Micah if the shit head were to do anything.”

 

Dutch finally looked up. He looked Arthur straight in his eyes and nodded, silently agreeing with Arthur and telling him he should indeed look after Hosea. Arthur nodded back and turned to go do as he was instructed.

 

Later that night, Hosea was a bit confused when Dutch insisted he sleep in the younger man’s tent, and when Hosea inquired the reason, Dutch seemed nervous and maybe a little afraid, but the younger man stated he wanted to spend time with his love. Hosea tried to push for more information, feeling as though Dutch wasn’t telling him everything, but the younger man became more nervous and defensive, so Hosea dropped it and filed it away for later investigation.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It wasn’t until two weeks after the incident with Micah that Hosea started to become suspicious. He was grabbing a bowl of soup with Bill when the other man mentioned how odd it was Arthur was following him around.

 

“I don’t quite get your meaning Mr. Williamson?”

 

“You haven’t noticed Arthur hangin’ around, always keeping you within eyesight?” Bill questioned.

 

Hosea simply shook his head, a little perplexed, looking around for Arthur. And sure enough, Arthur was sitting not thirty feet away with a clear view of Hosea. The older man just nodded, trying not to come off as suspicious.

 

Turning back to Bill, Hosea spoke in a softer voice, “Hey Bill, let's keep this between us, ya?”

 

“Sure. Whatever.” Bill replied as he walked off to eat his soup.

 

Hosea spent the next day and a half observing Arthur’s strange behavior. Around noon the next day Hosea had had enough of Arthur stalking him and was about to confront the man when Abigail sat down next to him.

 

“Are you alright Hosea? You don’t seem well.”

 

“Arthur keeps following me, and it’s starting to irritate the hell outta me.”

 

“Aw, come on. I’m sure he’s just following Dutch’s orders. I’m sure Dutch just wants to keep you safe. What with your cough and the…words Arthur and Micah had a couple weeks ago.” Abigail was oblivious to Hosea’s surprise at hearing this was Dutch’s idea.

 

“What words Mrs. Marston?”

 

“Y-you don’t know?” Abigail became nervous, fearing she had let something slip she shouldn’t have.

 

“No? What words? What happened?” Hosea became more demanding, extremely interested to learn what had caused this irritating situation. But Abigail was hesitant, beginning to worry the seam of her dress sleeve. “Mrs. Marston, I can assure you, neither Dutch nor Arthur will ever discover it was you that clued me in on this…annoying problem.” Hosea reassured.

 

Abigail was still nervous, but she felt safe with Hosea’s word, “Well I didn’t hear all of it, but Micah was getting _friendly_ with Dutch again, of course Dutch ignored him and Micah didn’t appreciate that, so he stormed off. Arthur tried to make Micah see that Dutch was only interested in you. Oh come now Mr. Matthews, we all know that you and him are together, y’all don’t have to hide from us.” Abigail reassured when she saw Hosea tense. Once Hosea had relaxed a bit, silently thanking Abigail, the woman continued, “Well Micah told Arthur that he would be much better for Dutch then yourself, which is completely not true, and confidently told Arthur that he will get what he wants sooner or later.” Abigail finished, noticing Hosea was deep in thought.

 

“Mr. Matthews, don’t be angry with Arthur, he’s only doing what Dutch has asked him.”

 

“Oh no, I’m not angry with Arthur, I am however irritated that Dutch seems to think I can not handle myself to the likes of Micah Bell, and he needs to send a body guard after me.” Hosea spat out, very clearly angry with Dutch. Before Abigail could respond, Hosea stood up and bid her goodbye.

 

Hosea Matthews may be getting up there in age, and his bones may creak a bit more, and his cough might be getting worse, but he could damn well take care of himself, and he certainly didn’t need a _babysitter_. With his anger and contempt at Dutch’s lack of faith in him beginning to boil over, Hosea decided he was going to deal with Micah himself, without Arthur _or_ Dutch’s help, and began to scheme.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next day Hosea set his plan in motion, approaching Charles early in the day to send him and Arthur off into town to get a supposed lead on some O’Driscoll boys that may have been spotted at the saloon, on Dutch’s orders of course.

 

Hosea watched Arthur try to resist going, but he knew that if Arthur believed the orders were from Dutch, then he would be obliged to go. Smiling to himself as Arthur and Charles mounted their horses, Hosea made sure Dutch was not watching him, finding the man had hid himself away in his tent.

 

Hosea proceeded with his next step: getting Micah alone. He approached the blonde carefully, trying not to set off any alarms or come off suspicious.

 

“Mr. Bell,” Hosea called, “Why don’t you join me on a hunting trip? It’s such a beautiful day out, and we hardly know each other, it’d be the perfect opportunity to get acquainted.”

 

Micah was a bit suspicious when he replied “But you don’t exactly like me Hosea. Why would you want to spend an entire day with me?”

 

“Well perhaps if I get to know you a little better I’ll like you better.” Hosea smiled even though he was getting a bit nervous his plan wasn’t going to work. “Come on, stop thinking so hard and just go hunting.”

 

Despite Micah’s suspicions, he agreed and the two men trotted off into the woods.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was only an hour or so later that Charles and Arthur returned to camp, Arthur pissed that the lead had been a dud and having wasted his time going into town. As the men approached the hitching post Arthur observed that Silver Dollar and Micah’s horse were both missing. Panic rising up into his throat, Arthur frantically asked Tilly if she had seen either man.

 

“Why yes, they went off hunting together about a half hour or so. Why? Are they alright?”

 

“Y-yes, I think so, I-I just need to find Dutch.” Arthur’s voice hitching as his fear became worse. “Dutch!? “DUTCH!!” Arthur yelled, briskly walking towards the man’s tent.

 

Dutch exited his tent and approached Arthur, worried at the other mans distress. “Arthur son are you alright, you seem upset.”

 

“Hosea has gone off with Micah huntin’” Arthur tried to remain calm, half panicking that Hosea was going to end up killed, and fearing he may already have.

 

“WHAT!? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM!!” Dutch exploded

 

“I WAS UNTIL YOU MADE ME GO INTO TOWN ON A DUD O’DRISCOLL LEAD!!” Arthur shouted back

 

“Wh-what lead? I didn’t send you on any lead? What the fuck are you talking about boy?”

 

“Charles said you wanted me and him to go into town because there might be some O’Driscoll boys there, but there weren’t.”

 

Charles walked up at that point, trying to defuse the situation, and maybe get himself out of trouble in the process. “Hosea came up to me earlier saying you wanted us to go into town.”

 

Arthur and Dutch both looked at each other, realizing that they’d been played by their resident con-man. Without another word Arthur and Dutch grabbed their horses and set off to try to find Hosea, calling Charles with them to help track the two men.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Meanwhile, Hosea and Micah rode deeper and deeper into the woods, under the guise that they were hunting. Hosea tried to make small talk about how Micah felt about being apart of the gang, the future of said gang, and anything he could think of until he decided that they had ridden far enough away from camp as not to be disturbed.

 

“We should hop off, it’ll be better to track on foot, quieter so as not to spook anything.” Hosea suggested, pulling Silver Dollar to a stop. Micah grunted his agreement and stoped his horse next to Silver Dollar, pulling his shotgun from his saddle.

 

“You know Micah, I didn’t drag you out here to go hunting. I’d like to talk to you about some behaviors you’ve been exhibiting.” Micah turned, angrily glaring at Hosea.

 

“If you didn’ wanna go huntin’, then why drag me all the way out here, you could’ve talked to me in camp. God Old Man, sometimes…” Micah huffed, turning to put his shotgun away. “What the hell did you wanna talk about?”

 

“This may come as a surprise to you Micah, but we only steal objects, not people.”

 

“Huh?” Micah replied cluelessly.

 

Hosea squared Micah up, becoming defensive and hardening his face. “Dutch is _mine_. And if you don’t stop trying to advance on _my_ territory, there’ll be hell to pay.” Hosea’s eyes became dark with anger, but Micah simply laughed, dismissing the older man.

 

“Face it old man, I’m ten times the man you could ever be, and Dutch deserves someone _young_ and _whole_. Not some old croon who’ll break if he coughs too hard.” Micah sneered.

 

“You’re right, Dutch does deserve someone better. But that sure as hell ain’t you.” Hosea shot back.

 

Micah went to grab his gun but Hosea quickly warned him not to. “If I die right here, right now, Dutch’ll know it was you, and believe you me that he will not rest until _you_ are six feet under. Best put that away.”

 

“Not if I say it was a huntin’ accident.” Micah shot back.

 

Hosea laughed, “You think Dutch’ll believe that? He knows you want me out of the picture so you can have him all to yourself, he’s not dumb, and he’ll know it wasn’t some ‘hunting accident’ Micah.”

 

Micah slowly retracted his hand thinking about this, but in an instant he pounced on Hosea, punching the older man squarely in the face and tackling him to the ground. Hosea barely had time to think before Micah started beating his face into the ground, angrily taunting the older man. “You think Dutch cares about you?! HA! You’re just a fun toy, he even keeps the other one around when he’s bored of you! He won’t even remember your name in a year if you die today. He don’t care about some sad old pathetic man who can’t breath!”

 

Hosea was able to gain the upper hand and rolled Micah off of him, allowing Hosea to regain his footing, putting up his fists in an attempt to block Micah’s blows. Each man dealt and got several punches in, until Micah tackled Hosea again, this time into a tree, knocking the wind out of the older man.

 

Between the physical effort of fighting Micah and the blow to the tree, Hosea’s lungs couldn’t take anymore, and the older man began having an asthma attack. Within seconds Hosea was keeled over on the ground, clutching his chest and gasping for air. Micah simply stood back, catching his breath and laughed.

 

“Look at you old man, can’t even fight. You’re pathetic.” Micah spat at Hosea, watching as Hosea hyperventilated and collapsed onto the ground. However, he quickly stopped taunting the older man as he heard thundering hooves beat down the path, jumping out of the way as The Count nearly ran him over.

 

Dutch was halfway off of his horse and to Hosea before he had fully stopped. “Hosea! Jesus Christ!! Hosea!!” Panic was setting in quickly as Hosea still lay crumpled on the ground, gasping and gaging for air, sounding like a dying deer that had just been shot.

 

Dutch knelt frozen, all sensible thought leaving him as he stared at his partner dying on the ground. It wasn’t until Arthur pulled up beside the two men, quickly dismounted, and threw Hosea onto The Count that Dutch’s sense came back to him. Dutch gave one frightening glare over his shoulder to Micah, promising to deal with him later before he himself hoped on The Count and spurred him quickly back to camp.

 

Arthur and Charles looked back towards Micah as Dutch and Hosea rode away, hoping and praying Hosea would make it back alive.

 

Arthur grabbed Micah by his collar and slammed him up against a tree. “What the hell were you thinking!? How could you beat the shit out of Hosea!!? He could _die_ and all you care about is whether you can get into Dutch’s pants? I should string you up right here and now, but I’ll leave that pleasure to Dutch.” Arthur finished, slamming Micah against the tree one more time for good measure. Micah didn’t respond, and Arthur was glad.

 

As Arthur and Charles mounted their horses, Charles called back “You better not show your face in camp, or there’ll be hell to pay. And you better pray Hosea lives, because if he doesn’t, Dutch won’t be the only one you’ll need to worry about.” With that, the two men left Micah standing alone in the forrest, huffing about his predicament.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dutch rode hard all the way back to camp, Hosea still gasping and gaging for air. Dutch begged him to hold on a little longer, that they were almost home, that Hosea just needed to _hold on_.

 

Dutch galloped The Count all the way up to his tent, screaming at people to get out of the way. Gently lifting a boneless Hosea off of his horse, Dutch carefully set him inside, telling him to sit up. Dutch had never felt panic quite like this before as he fumbled around the tent looking for all the ingredients for Hosea’s inhaler.

 

The whole camp was on red alert, the sound of Hosea’s gasping and hyperventilating loud enough to wake people in the next three towns. They had never heard something so violent come out of a man before.

 

Dutch finally, _finally_ , was able to put everything together and practically shoved the inhaler into Hosea’s face, but Hosea was too far gone to be able to administer the medicine himself, having teetered on the edge of unconsciousness since they’d entered camp.

 

Dutch’s whole body was shaking with fear, as he desperately slapped Hosea to wake him up, but Hosea’s eyes started to drift shut and his breathing slowed, not because he was getting better but because his body was beginning to give out.

 

“NO!!! NO NO NO NO!!! HOSEA PLEASE PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!!!” Dutch screamed, his voice cracking and tears rolling down his face. In one last final attempt to save Hosea, Dutch pulled Hosea back to a sitting position, slapped him one more time, and shoved the inhaler into his mouth, pleading for Hosea to breath, just breath. The tears flowed freely now, staining his face. But it worked, Hosea’s eyes opened back up and his breathing evened out. Dutch gasped and clutched Hosea’s shirt, burying his face into the older man’s shoulder, sobbing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The next day, after Hosea had slept and his wounds had been treated, Dutch addressed the elephant in the room.

 

“Hosea,” Dutch began, sitting on the edge of the cot and stroking the older mans hair as he laid down “What were you thinking?”

 

Hosea groaned and rolled over, not wanting to look at Dutch.

 

“Hosea you almost _died_. You had to have known that cornering Micah wasn’t a good plan!” Dutch started to pace the length of his tent.

 

Hosea sat up and finally replied, coughing a bit, earning him a worried look from Dutch. Hosea simply held up his hand, dismissing Dutch’s worry. “I don’t appreciate you sending Arthur to babysit me Dutch.” Hosea’s voice was raspy but he continued. “Despite what you and everyone around here thinks, I _can_ take care of myself. And most times I don’t have an asthma attack during a fight, meaning I _can_ handle myself. I’m tired of you treating me like a porcelain doll about to break Dutch!” Hosea coughed again, earning him a pointed look from Dutch.

 

Dutch knelt in front of Hosea, grabbing his hands. “I want to keep you safe! You’re a good shot, sure, but Micah has fifty pounds on you easily, and a temper to boot. He could’ve killed you even if you didn’t have an asthma attack. I’m sorry I sent Arthur to look after you, but the way Micah looked at you I was afraid he was gonna…gonna…” Dutch looked away, not able to even think about it.

 

Hosea pulled Dutch’s face back to him, looking him in his deep brown eyes, and began to stroke his face. He pulled him for a kiss feeling Dutch’s tears run down his face again. “I’m not going anywhere. Next time, talk to me first instead of sending someone to babysit me.” Dutch simply nodded, promising to talk with Hosea next time there was an issue.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Micah didn’t show up at camp for several months, returning only to inform Dutch of a job in a town called Blackwater. Something about a boat, and the rest as they say, is history.


End file.
